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Poverty measurement
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24/05/2013
Comparing poverty exposure in Europe
Some 'encouraging' results have been reported from attempts to compare people's exposure to poverty across different European countries, says a paper from Eurostat, the European Commission's statistical body.
The paper describes methodological work aimed at matching expenditure data (from the Household Budget Survey – HBS) with income and material deprivation data (from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions – EU-SILC). It attempts to do this using 2005 data for the UK.Category: Reports -
20/05/2013
Small-area measures of income poverty
Some of the difficulties of measuring poverty at the small-area level have been highlighted in a new paper from the LSE's Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion. The paper's author cautiously suggests a system of proxies based on benefits data as the most promising way forward.
The paper is the latest from the 'Social Policy in a Cold Climate' research programme, examining the effects of the major economic and political changes in the UK since 2007 – particularly on the distribution of wealth, poverty, inequality and spatial difference.Category: Reports -
22/04/2013
‘Risk of confusion’ over child poverty measurement
Coalition proposals to change the way child poverty is measured risk creating confusion, the independent Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission has warned.
The government-appointed body was responding to a consultation document in which ministers proposed moving away from measuring child poverty purely by reference to income.Category: Reports -
22/04/2013
Multi-dimensional deprivation in Ireland
Over 29 per cent of children aged nine in Ireland suffer from multi-dimensional deprivation, according to a new analysis from University College Dublin. 20 per cent are deprived on grounds of low income. Rates of deprivation on other dimensions range from 10 per cent (delinquent behaviour) to 25.2 per cent (overweight or obese).
The researchers made use of the nine-year-old wave of the Growing Up in Ireland study to analyse multi-dimensional deprivation. Their approach involves a 'censoring' of data such that deprivations count only for those above the specified multi-dimensional threshold. This leads, they say, to a stronger set of inter-relationships between deprivation dimensions than that found under alternative approaches.Category: Reports -
16/04/2013
A more unequal country?
Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack explore the trends in inequality and poverty pre and post the Thatcher years and find inequality grew sharply in the years after 1979. Add your comments to the debate.
Category: Articles -
05/04/2013
Links between housing and poverty highlighted
Policy-makers need to pay closer attention to links between housing and poverty, according to a new study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that looks at how housing can mitigate or exacerbate the impact of poverty on people’s lives.
Category: Reports -
27/03/2013
Global distribution of multi-dimensional poverty
Only a quarter of the world's multi-dimensionally poor people, and just a third of those who are severely multi-dimensionally poor, live in the world’s poorest countries. That's the conclusion of a new paper from the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, which has pioneered the use of multi-dimensional poverty indices that measure not just living standards but also factors such as health and education.
Category: Reports -
17/03/2013
Measuring poverty in the EU
Observed patterns of poverty in Europe are strongly affected by the way they are measured, says a new paper from an EU-funded research project. The authors look at different poverty measures, including those applied in the EU's social strategy, and how they affect the results derived for poverty between 2005 and 2009.
Category: Reports -
28/02/2013
Material deprivation among older people
A broader poverty measure is needed for older people that looks beyond low income, according to research published by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Two linked pieces of research look at material deprivation among older people. The first study provides in-depth quantitative analysis of the material deprivation and low income experiences of older people, based on Family Resources Survey (FRS) data. The second is a qualitative study comprising 29 in-depth interviews with pensioners aged 65 and over, exploring the non-income factors that 'push down’ or 'pull up’ their material circumstances across four categories: basic needs, dealing with financial shocks, housing needs and meeting social needs.
Category: Reports -
08/02/2013
Over 2 million children ‘missing’ from poverty count
Nearly 1 in 5 children who are living materially deprived lives – 2.3 million in total – are excluded from the government's headline measure of relative income poverty, according to a report from the Policy Exchange think tank. This, it says, is despite the £170 billion spent between 2003 and 2010 on financial support for the poorest households with children.
Category: Reports
